Planning Center
Event Contracts Guidance
High-level contract habits for hosts - deposits, cancellation, insurance clauses, and scope. Educational only, not legal advice.
Event Contracts Guidance
This page is general education, not legal advice. For significant spend or unusual liability, consult a qualified attorney in your state.
What to read twice
- Total price, taxes, service charges, and overtime
- Deposit schedule and refundability
- Cancellation and force majeure language
- Damage deposit / walkthrough rules
- Insurance and indemnification clauses
- Exclusive vendor requirements
- Change-order process (how extras get priced)
Habits that help
- Keep a signed PDF of every agreement
- Summarize key dates on your timeline
- Match insurance additional insured names exactly
- Confirm whether electronic signatures are accepted by the venue
Insurance clauses
If a contract requires you to "maintain commercial general liability" for the event date, that is often satisfied with a special event policy and COI - confirm with the venue. Guides: additional insured & COI · venue requirements.
Vendor contracts
Spell out deliverables, hours, meal provisions for staff, and who owns leftover floral or rentals. Request vendor COIs when your venue requires them - vendors.